Poll: which venue do you enjoy more?

[Chin Diesel]

Gampel all day, except in the hypothetical case in which the XL is packed with a rowdy fan in every seat. If we could fill XL with lunatics for a given game, I'd prefer to have that game at XL over Gampel. That's a very rare, if not non-existent, occurrence, though.

Way to cover all the bases.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Slight preference for Gampel, but have fond memories of the old Civic Center. Have not been to the XL in a long time.

If I'm honest, neither are great. I was in the golden ticket student seats behind the basket when Gampel opened. It was awesome, but the bit open round roof and lack of corner seats (some were added) meant it wasn't really as loud or rocking as it could be. The design focused too much on aesthetics and not enough on being a functional space.

 

[John]

Have not been to the XL in a long

You haven't missed much.

 

[Dooooooomed]

The XL is an ugly baby, but it's my ugly baby, g damn it!

 

[8893]

The XL is an ugly baby, but it's my ugly baby, g damn it!

That’s how I feel about it as a concert venue, for which I think it is better suited than a basketball venue.

But I love going to games there, too; I just enjoy Gampel better. If each was in my backyard (and I get a seat back in each), I would choose Gampel every time.

I hate Gampel as a concert venue though.

 

[husky8273]

I was at UConn from '03 to '09, and the student section at the Civic Center was full for my first few years. The black market for student tickets was red hot. One could get $50+ for marquee matchups (face value was $5 or $10, I think). When I joined the cheerleading team, I continued to buy student tickets just to sell them. Getting to Hartford apparently wasn't an issue back then. Students found a way.

Reminds me of the time that I walked/hitchhiked to Hartford from Towers dorms. It was a Friday night, probably in January, and the temperature was well below freezing. I drunkenly declared that I bleed blue and white to such an extent that I was planning to walk to Hartford for the game the following day at noon against Syracuse. Someone replied, "You won't do it!" and that was all she wrote. I convinced two friends to come with me, and we bundled up, threw some beers in a backpack, and started our walk down 195. A Coventry cop drove us down route 44 up to the highway. During the ride, she asked us, "You haven't been drinking, have you?" and "Are you sure you're allowed to walk along the highway?" I am not sure if she was super ignorant and naïve or what, but we were grateful for the warm ride in any case.

During our walk down 384, a small pickup truck stopped and asked us what the heck we were doing. We told him we were walking to the game, and he offered us a ride into Hartford. As we were talking a state trooper pulled up and said he got reports of pedestrians in the travel lanes on the highway. He asked what we were up to, and we told him we were on our way to the game. He then asked us to prove it by showing him our tickets. We did, and he sent us on our way, telling us we were lucky that the motorist offered to pick us up, otherwise we'd be getting a ride to the station.

We got into the Civic Center around 5:30 Saturday morning, and we killed time talking to a homeless gentleman who regaled us with an alphabetical list from memory of the 100+ bands he had seen live in his lifetime. When he was done, we gave him our leftover beer and went to find somewhere to lay down. It was quite an epic journey.

who won the game?

 

[CTMike]

we killed time talking to a homeless gentleman who regaled us with an alphabetical list from memory of the 100+ bands he had seen live in his lifetime.

Just @ @August_West next time!

 

[Get a Job]

who won the game?

UConn by 28!

(Had to look it up. I don't have any specific memories about the game itself. Whoops!)

 

[Rico444]

If we're talking purely about experience, I'll take Gampel, even if I'm almost always sitting on a bench instead of a seat. Taking into account travel, pregame festivities, etc. it gets closer for sure. Although I went to my first game in Hartford in a couple of years back in February of 2020 and it was incredible how few restaurants and bars are left. It used to be a decent atmosphere right outside the arena, but when I went there were basically one or two bars left, and that was pre-covid.

 

[August_West]

I prefer not to smell rancid Frying oil from the concession stands that permeates the whole XL center.


Gotta go with GP, dawg.

 

[John]

If we're talking purely about experience, I'll take Gampel, even if I'm almost always sitting on a bench instead of a seat. Taking into account travel, pregame festivities, etc. it gets closer for sure. Although I went to my first game in Hartford in a couple of years back in February of 2020 and it was incredible how few restaurants and bars are left. It used to be a decent atmosphere right outside the arena, but when I went there were basically one or two bars left, and that was pre-covid.

downtown Hartford is the definition of a ghost town.

 

[8893]

downtown Hartford is the definition of a ghost town.

Hey, you're talking about the Nation's File Cabinet there!

Insurance City, baybee! Woohoo!!!

 

[Devland]

As far as enjoying myself, it is more dependent for me on the game itself. Give me a seat and a basketball court and I am happy. I will add Gampel is not a good venue for tall people.

 

[husky429]

The food at Gampel is also worse. XL isn't great, but Gampel is friggin awful. And the lines are outrageous. I feel like Mike Tyson trying to get through the lines to go to the dang bathroom sometimes.

Can I put Madison Square Garden instead?

 

[Vancat]

Can I put Madison Square Garden instead?

That wasn’t the question. Everybody loves MSG!

 

[8893]

That wasn’t the question. Everybody loves MSG!

 

[Waquoit]

I will add Gampel is not a good venue for tall people.

Thanks for saying that. I'm just 6 feet and there's no leg room. The Yard must be full of the vertically challenged. Or folks voting for Gampel that don't actually attend games there.

 

[whosurdaddy2720]

I was at UConn from '03 to '09, and the student section at the Civic Center was full for my first few years. The black market for student tickets was red hot. One could get $50+ for marquee matchups (face value was $5 or $10, I think). When I joined the cheerleading team, I continued to buy student tickets just to sell them. Getting to Hartford apparently wasn't an issue back then. Students found a way.

Reminds me of the time that I walked/hitchhiked to Hartford from Towers dorms. It was a Friday night, probably in January, and the temperature was well below freezing. I drunkenly declared that I bleed blue and white to such an extent that I was planning to walk to Hartford for the game the following day at noon against Syracuse. Someone replied, "You won't do it!" and that was all she wrote. I convinced two friends to come with me, and we bundled up, threw some beers in a backpack, and started our walk down 195. A Coventry cop drove us down route 44 up to the highway. During the ride, she asked us, "You haven't been drinking, have you?" and "Are you sure you're allowed to walk along the highway?" I am not sure if she was super ignorant and naïve or what, but we were grateful for the warm ride in any case.

During our walk down 384, a small pickup truck stopped and asked us what the heck we were doing. We told him we were walking to the game, and he offered us a ride into Hartford. As we were talking a state trooper pulled up and said he got reports of pedestrians in the travel lanes on the highway. He asked what we were up to, and we told him we were on our way to the game. He then asked us to prove it by showing him our tickets. We did, and he sent us on our way, telling us we were lucky that the motorist offered to pick us up, otherwise we'd be getting a ride to the station.

We got into the Civic Center around 5:30 Saturday morning, and we killed time talking to a homeless gentleman who regaled us with an alphabetical list from memory of the 100+ bands he had seen live in his lifetime. When he was done, we gave him our leftover beer and went to find somewhere to lay down. It was quite an epic journey.

This is one of the most ridiculous stories I've ever heard. Quintessential college nonsense.

Cheers my friend.

 

[8893]

Thanks for saying that. I'm just 6 feet and there's no leg room. The Yard must be full of the vertically challenged. Or folks voting for Gampel that don't actually attend games there.

I'm 6'2". As we've discussed before, the benches are miserable, but the last row is fine. The seat back chairs are okay though; roomy by Fenway or Broadway standards.

That said, my absolute favorite seats there are the single seat back chairs at the very bottom of sections 1, 3, 4 and 6. No one in front of you, and no one next to you.

 

[navery12]

Thanks for saying that. I'm just 6 feet and there's no leg room. The Yard must be full of the vertically challenged. Or folks voting for Gampel that don't actually attend games there.

I'm 6'5 so I've just accepted the leg room at any sporting event is terrible. But agree with @8893 I just always choose an aisle seat or one of the back rows and it's fine

 

[Kenny11]

I like both and don't approve of the slander of either venue.

But I choose XL as my favorite because no bleachers, a cool bar area, and more food, drink and bathroom options.

 

[Waquoit]

I'm 6'2". As we've discussed before, the benches are miserable, but the last row is fine. The seat back chairs are okay though; roomy by Fenway or Broadway standards.

That said, my absolute favorite seats there are the single seat back chairs at the very bottom of sections 1, 3, 4 and 6. No one in front of you, and no one next to you.

That you can only come up with a handful of decent seats for folks over 6 feet is proving my point I think. And comparing the chairbacks to structures built over a century ago, more so. The XL has over 15K decent seats.

 

[8893]

The XL has over 15K decent seats.

But half of them have terrible visibility. I would rather stay home than watch from any seats above the first few rows of the upper bowl. There again, I love the seats at the very bottoms in the corners if I have to settle for upper bowl. Lower bowl is great though

 

[Waquoit]

But half of them have terrible visibility.

Half? And you had credibility to me. I had 200's seats in Row M or higher forever. You're not as close as you want but no obstruction to visibility. That's above the half line. Do you consider all arena seats outside the lower bowl terrible or just at the XL?

 

[8893]

Half? And you had credibility to me. I had 200's seats in Row M or higher forever. You're not as close as you want but no obstruction to visibility. That's above the half line. Do you consider all arena seats outside the lower bowl terrible or just at the XL?

Depends on the arena, especially the pitch/grade of the seats. In general I always prefer and try for lower bowl. MSG I will accept higher because the layout provides better views to my eyes.

Half may be too harsh for XL; I will say 1/3. Probably the top half of the upper bowl.

Understand, most times these days I am going solo and searching for singles. I can afford to be choosy, and usually I can get pretty low on the sides in the lower bowl, frequently behind our bench.